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Monday, February 25, 2013

I don't know about you, but I usually remember my dreams. I suppose it's because someone is usually waking me up during REM. Anyway, I had a dream last night that I've been replaying over and over in my head. I dreamt that we had a house fire. It felt so real.

I've read about people who have lost every thing to a house fire and I've been on the scene as friends were surveying their home after such a tragedy. Having a house fire has always been a fear of mine. I suppose it's common. Everything gone in the blink of an eye. I just happen to be an incredibly sentimental person, which has trickled down to be eldest, to a degree that exceeds my own, so the thought of nothing but the memories of my possessions left, brings an ache to my heart.

Something that I've found myself doing, in the past, is scanning my house for those special things I would grab, if we had a fire, as I rushed out the door with my family. The computer...the special family photos...the kids' keepsake boxes, the honey's grandfather's medals, my pearls, the paintings honey did for me... I can picture myself now, with full arms. Feels disgraceful to me. I had the house fire dream twice. In the first dream, I frantically gathered up our special possessions, while the 5 of us rushed out the door. And in the other dream, I took nothing, just my family. In the last scenario, where I took nothing but our family and the memories in my heart, I felt no need to look back. Everything that mattered was right beside me and the sadness for my stuff just didn't matter because we were all safely together.

Thankfully, that was just a dream. To be honest, in my heart, I'm not to the point of that second scenario. Maybe I would surprise myself in the moment, but I know me and I would be hurting... With that said, I have some work to do on where my treasure is.

The sermon, yesterday, was about Lot and how greed drove his life to utter pain and destruction. I would have to say that my greed is the stuff that makes up my home. It's all comforting to me and fills my soul with memories and that makes me happy. On mine and honey's 1 year anniversary, he painted me a picture of our first home. It's so special to me. It hangs in our bedroom today. On the back of the painting, he wrote, "You will always be my home." :)

Lately, I've been feeling like God is refining me. The process hurts, but I'm learning so much along the way.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

It was too cold yesterday and the little girl's nose was running, so we didn't go outside and play yesterday. A parking lot sunset was as close of a "nature" picture that I could get. It's no Texas sunset, but it'll do.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Last night the honey asked me what I was having for dinner and I said, "Pie." It's been one of those weeks where pie for dinner and Russell Stover chocolate for breakfast just makes sense. So I say, bon appetit :) Today's a valley, tomorrow's a mountain. I'll eat carrots on the mountain.

Ok, so I'm several days behind on posting about my February challenge for a photo of the day. I've been instagraming them, but here ya go :)

day 12:

bad habit

...was my pile of laundry resting on the sofa. We have 5 people in our house and somehow everyone wears an insane amount of clothes. Once you get behind, you're up a creek. A couple of weeks ago, our dryer broke, so I had to hang up every piece of clothing to dry. You could only do as much laundry as you had hangers and space to hang. It was crazy. Thankfully, my honey watched a YouTube video and fixed it. Yay! Oh how I appreciate having a dryer again!

day 13:

the color red...

my hair :)

day 14:

my one true love...

A picture of my husband, with scruff.

I picked one from 2004, when we were dating. I love looking back at those pictures of us- when we, so quickly, fell head over heels in love. Nothing else mattered but each other. It was like we had blinders on, with our eyes wide shut to anything else. It was a beautiful time when our love was just starting out. I didn't understand, back then, how a love that felt so deep at the time, wasn't anything compared to the depth of our love now. We were so young. I wish I could have whispered in our ears back then.

day 15:

the first thing I see in the morning...

Pictures of my babies :) I roll over to turn off my alarm, put on my glasses, and these little beauties come into focus. These pictures are of me and them when we first came home from the hospital. They're raw love.

day 16:

what's in my bag...

My purse is just a glorified diaper bag. I stopped exclusively carrying my diaper bag pretty recently. I found this purse on sale at H&M, just before my trip to FL and I fell in love with it. It's a dark plum color, which happens to act as a neutral and go with just about anything. My daughter doesn't need much, so I can easily stick her things in my purse. Not lugging around a diaper bag is so nice. I feel like I graduated.

day 17:

something sweet....

I took a picture of my son eating milk and cereal for dinner...He begged for it. He's also a lefty, which makes it even cuter. The spoon is still quite big for him and to see how careful and intentional he is, not to drop any milk, just makes me want to squeeze him.

Day 18 is soon to come. The topic is "nature" and it's just too cold to enjoy nature right now :)

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

To be honest, I completely forgot about my February photo of the day challenge. The honey took off work Friday and yesterday for a little staycation, so my mind was elsewhere. So, a day late, but posted :)

With breakfast on the table- cinnamon toast- as healthy as I could get and coffee in hand, this was my morning sky.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

We don't have animals, so I had a hard time thinking of what to take a picture of. I ended up taking a picture of my son in his Curious George costume. He wears it nearly every day. It's about 2 sizes too small, so he looks extra cute in it. We're not dog/cat people. I'm sorry every one. I think we thought we were at one time, and maybe we were, but for where we live and what our lifestyle is now, having an animal just doesn't fit in. Now, if we ever live on a farm and our kids want to take on that responsibility, we may revisit this topic. But, for now, I have enough on my plate :)

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day 10:

what I wore

Goodness! We went to church this morning and I had no idea how cold it would be. This flowy top ended up being the wrong choice on this cold February day. I do love it though. If you've never been to the store, Charming Charlies, you should check it out. They have a ton of stuff~ jewelery, belts, shoes, clothes, perfume...every thing! And, best of all, it's totally affordable. All of their clothes seem to work well for any body type. Especially us moms who may be hanging on to some of that baby weight. Is it baby weight if your baby will be 2 next month? Yes.

Instead of going the "fitted" route, like I did pre-kids :) Dressing myself in more flowy, feminine clothes seem to make me feel more confident about my new body. To be honest, even though having three kids has changed my body in every way possible...I feel the most confident and secure in myself than I ever have. Kids have a way of changing us in so many ways, don't they? What blessings they are!

Whenever I became a stay at home mom, just over five years ago, I could see myself getting into that pajama pant/t-shirt kind of slump and I didn't want to do that, so I got all of my t-shirts and pajama pants and took them to Goodwill. Well, maybe not all of them- you know- save some for a rainy day :) I just didn't want to feel blah. Some days I feel blah and I dress in my yoga pants and I go with it and I make no apologies to myself. Some days call for just that kind dress code. But most days, getting myself completely ready, in something that I feel good in- whatever that might be, just makes me feel better all around.

What about you? What are you rockin' these days?

Top: Charming Charlies (my new favorite store!)

Gold chain necklace: Charming Charlies

Earings: pearls- an anniversary gift from my honey. I wear these every day. Pearls are a southern girl's staple.

Friday, February 8, 2013

The kids have been sick...Explosive throw up...You get the picture :) Sometimes I start feeling like we're never going to get well. Someone's always sick. I suppose it's this crazy season. I think I'm ready for spring! I've already had my eye out for some Easter outfits...

They exist. If you're breathing, then you've ran into one or more of them. I got teased off and on about my red hair in school. I will always remember the whispery comments and giggles can't even remember the specific comments. Now that I'm 29, I think, "Really? That was the worst you could come up with?" It wasn't my oversize maroon glasses, poofy bangs, or my jacked up perm? Surely they could have come up with something better, but at the time, it really hurt my feelings, down deep. Somewhere between "finding myself" in college and getting a degree I'll never use, I really started to like my red hair. Funny how the thing I was always so self conscious about as a young girl, became the thing I most love about myself, except that everyone assumes I have a temper. And yesterday I proved those people right...

Fire-red hair and all, I have never seen myself as someone who has a temper. I suppose you'd have to ask my husband to get the real answer :) But when someone messes with my kids, even if they're a big boned, shouldn't even count as a five year old kid, something inside of me snaps and I go postal. I must apologize to my new bible study friends :) I promise, my second impression will be much better.

There was a bullying incident in the Chick-fil-A play area. I took my eyes off of my boys while my daughter and I were finishing up our meal and the mommies were chatting. And it happened quick, but my boys were getting hurt and I could see them through the glass and I just couldn't get to them fast enough. I don't think you can ever really prepare yourself for all that motherhood throws your way. I remember the honey and I walking hand in hand late at night, pre-kids, around our college campus, talking about how we would handle certain situations that we might face as parents...When our kids were little, I always felt confident, like I totally had things under control. I guess it was because I was in control. I was always with them. They never left my sight or side. Today was my fault. I should have never allowed the boys to be in the play area without me physically being in the room. So there's that. And that feeling sucks. I also had to ask their forgiveness, but when I feel bad about something, it's hard for me to let it go, so I felt the need to ask for their forgiveness repeatedly. It wasn't until my middle son, said, "I know, mommy, it's ok," that I felt God speak to my heart. First, I realized that I should stop asking the boys to forgive me. Second, they forgave me the first time. And third, they really forgave me the first time. Isn't that kind of how we are with God? We ask Him to forgive us when we mess up and He forgives us. He really forgives us the very first time and then we keep bringing up old stuff back to Him?

I had such a learned lunch today. I learned that my boys are getting older and I'm not always going to be able to shelter them from worldly behavior (AKA mean girls). God did not make me to be a helicopter mom. He's the helicopter. I learned that different families roll in different ways, some parents would rather be on their phone than watch their kids- potato- potato, but no matter what comes our way, as their mommy, it's my job to show my children how to handle and respond with love in difficult situations.

So yesterday, when we got home, we made "Love" cards and talked about the importance of sharing God's love. Below is what my oldest son made. He said he wanted to give it to the little girl that hurt he and his brother because he wanted her to know about Jesus.

This quote was on my Power of a Praying Parent flip calendar yesterday and I thought I would share it with you~

Lord, teach me how to love the way You love. Where I need to be healed, delivered, changed, matured, or made whole, I invite you to do that in me.

I really love my buffet. I found the little treasure at Habitat for Humanity Restore. If you've never been, I totally recommend going, especially if you're looking at doing a home improvement project for cheap. They have every thing from furniture to doors to tile to appliances- every thing! This dresser was at the very back of the store, where they keep the "on hold" items (so don't miss scouting that room out), but it had been there passed the pick up date, so I was able to purchase it. It was priced at $35, but I talked them down to $25. Steal!

Before

I really didn't know what I was doing at the time. Now that Miss Mustard Seed has seasoned me, I feel much more confident painting furniture. Her tutorials are so helpful.

At the time, we were in desperate need of toy storage. We have three children and they have a lot of crap toys, and I was tired of always seeing the toys in random storage places throughout the house, even when they weren't being played with. That's when I decided that some type of dresser or buffet would be perfect. As I've mentioned before, I like to do things on the cheap, so instead of buying milk paint or chalk paint for this buffet, (Ahh...that would've looked so good...) I decided to spend no money at all and just use the flat white paint we had left over from our baseboards. It wasn't ideal, but it was free.

Here's what I came up with~

After

~flat white paint~

I also like to move things around. I think it secretly drives my darling honey crazy. He says he can never find anything. I always tell him, "It's in a better place." Right?

And here's it's final resting place. It works here. I did like it in our living room too though...

But after looking at the dresser for a while, I realized that it needed something. She takes a beating from the kids, so it didn't stay bright white for long. I needed something to really seal the paint, yet still have that chippy look. So, I lightly sanded again and bought some of Miss Mustard Seed's antiquing wax. Granted, it was my first time using it, but I'm really happy with the aged look I got from it. I think it's just enough.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Today was suppose to be "an inside joke," but I just couldn't post something that bold :) Aren't inside jokes kind of secretive for a reason?

As I was going about my day trying to think of an inside joke appropriate enough to take a picture of...I came to the realization that I/we have a lot of inside jokes. Most of which I just can't let out of the bag. So, I decided to take a picture of something stereotypical of a homeschool. You gotta have a map in the dining room. A big one.

Not to long ago, if you had have told me that I was going to homeschool and have two ginormous maps in my dining room, I would have smiled politely and then been really uncomfortable. But when my good friend offered to give me her already laminated maps, I quickly said, "Hell yeah!" But of course I didn't actually say that. I never say things like that out loud, but I thought it and when she mentioned that she had a world map and a US map, I was like, "Two? Even better! I know just where I'm going to tack those babies- in my awesome dining room!"

And here they are. My two maps. I love them. We use them every day. Most formal dining rooms I've been in are rarely used, but not ours. We eat here, we learn here, we play here, we laugh here, we throw fits here, we hug here, we accomplish things here- we do lots of real living here and I wouldn't trade the memories made in this sweet room for anything.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

But this did not make me laugh at all. It made Davy Crockett ask me why I was so fussy. If your child points out your fussiness, it has truth.

We were all ready for church and buckling ourselves in the car when it wouldn't start. Nothing. It doesn't appear to be the battery, so we're getting it checked out. The men went to go do that and us ladies are at home watching Mickey Mouse and the snowflakes outside.

It's taken me many a years to realize something about myself- I don't do well with things I don't expect coming. Good things, yes, but other things catch me off guard and I become aggravated. That's something I need to work on. So today I am thankful for a chill husband. He rolls with the punches. His wife has a lot to learn from him.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

I love the way my feet feel on this rug in my daughter's nursery. I found it at Target. It was right after I found out that we were having a girl and even though I hadn't picked out her bedding yet, I just couldn't pass up this loveliness. It really softens up her room. I just adore it.She's now drawn to the coloryellow, so we'll see how long I'll actually be able to keep it in her room. She's still in a crib, but I know the big girl room is just around the corner. You see, she'll be two very soon. I can hardly believe it! I'm already getting ideas for her big girl room...I love the idea of doing big yellow and white checks on a euro pillow sham, with her monogram on it, or big yellow and white checked curtains. Maybe I could do pink accents...I'm crazy about this room from Bringing Up Three. The accessories and butterfly pillow aren't the route I want to go, but the bedding is so sweet, especially the fancy bedskirt. I think this look in a mustard yellow would be perfect! Oh the things to look forward to :)

Friday, February 1, 2013

I thought it would be super fun to take up a challenge this month and do a photo of the day. Day 1 is a self-portrait. This right before naptime. ..he naptime that didn't end up happening :) It's Friday, though, right?Here's what to expect, in case you'd like to follow along and do the same!

Welcome y'all!

Hi! I'm Meagan. I was born and raised in the lone star state of Texas. I like to talk about decorating, homemaking, and being a mom. I am a perpetual re decorator/re organizer and I love curbside furniture.

After living 8 years in the DC area, my family of 5 has finally moved back home. Yee Haw! Join me as we teach our kids the proper use of "y'all" and make Texas home once again.